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Rail Ale Trains on West Somerset Railway revives golden age of ale by rail.

Rail Ale Trains on West Somerset Railway revives golden age of ale by rail.

(08/06/2011 @ 16:35:00)

One
of the staple traffics carried by the Railways of Britain down the
years has been beer from breweries both large and small. When the
Midland Railway built its St Pancras station in
London a key part of
the planning was to maximise the cellar space available for the storage
of the huge number of beer casks that the MR carried from the breweries
of
Burton-on-Trent to the capital. In the Mendip hills, the Oakhill brewery built its own narrow gauge line to the
Somerset and
Dorset line at Binegar. The breweries also received raw materials such as hops, yeast and coal by rail.

On the
Taunton to Minehead branch line there was a local brewery in the
village of
Stogumber,
which traded from around 1840 until 1910. The beers obtained a national
reputation for their purity and the company also produced soft drinks.
The brewery site became derelict and was demolished in the 1970’s
although an advertising poster from the Stogumber Brewery can still be
seen in the White Horse Inn in the village.

The brewery used the Minehead branch as one of its links to the pubs it served and on Friday June 10th one of the present day award-winning independent breweries of
Somerset will be reviving the tradition by loading some of its ales at Stogumber for journeys to pubs at Bishops Lydeard and Minehead.

The beer will be from the Quantock Brewery, which has been established in
Wellington since
December 2007. Quantock’s ales are brewed using pure ingredients of
grain, whole hop cones, yeast and water without other additives, giving
drinkers the chance to enjoy the natural flavours of the drink. The
beers are served in traditional cask-conditioned form in pubs in
Somerset and Devon although they have been served successfully in places as far apart as
Scotland and the
Isle of Wight.

The pubs, which will be receiving their deliveries from the West Somerset Railway, are traditional localthe "Bird in Hand” in Bishops Lydeard and award-winning family pub the "Hairy Dog” in Minehead. June 10th is the first day of the
WSR’s Mixed
Traction Weekend. The beers will be loaded on to 11.31 train to Minehead
and the 12.03 to Bishops Lydeard, being expected to be delivered to the
"Hairy Dog” at around midday and the "Bird in Hand” around 1.00 p.m.
Quantock Brewery beer will be available in both pubs, to quench the
thirst of the traveller.

WSR
General Manager commented:- "We are pleased to be able to combine Ale
by Rail Day with the start of one of own special weekends and later in
the year we will expect to have Quantock Beers on sale at Minehead
Railway Station during the September Real Ale festival.